Gallery 18

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/she-painted-first-known-self-portrait-an-artist-at-work-and-signed-it-nearly-500-years-ago-who-was-catharina-van-hemessen-180989724/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=20261021-daily&lctg=93074546&user_id=b2df6c78cb2dfa1062934af9c145cdd710ee95dce0f9f5b71151fb2a88a3eab7

She Painted the First Known Self-Portrait of an Artist at Work—and Signed It—Nearly 500 Years Ago. Who Was Catharina van Hemessen? Few women worked as professional artists in the 16th century. A new exhibition in Antwerp, Belgium, seeks to restore this Flemish painter to the pantheon of art history giants

https://societyofauthors.org/2026/10/14/creative-industries-launch-ethical-ai-charter/

Creative industries launch Ethical AI Charter - The Society of Authors New Charter is a "small step towards defining what ethical and responsible AI might look like in the creative industries".

https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-news/bookshop-browsing-raises-wellbeing-reveals-new-survey

Bookshop Browsing Raises Wellbeing Reveals New Survey Nine out of 10 people who have visited a physical bookshop in the last six months say the experience improved their mood, says a new poll from the Booksellers Association.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1521845859977238&set=a.642002144628285

BREAKING NEWS
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to the Canadian author Anne Carson, “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.”

Anne Carson was born in 1950 in Toronto, Canada. In 1981, she published her doctoral thesis in Classics entitled ‘Odi et Amo Ergo Sum’, and has, throughout her entire career, combined poetry writing with translation work and teaching at various universities. Almost all her literary production has centred upon the intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and the poet’s desire for new meaning. She has herself identified the etymology of words as the starting point for all her work. Her translations from Classical Greek may be regarded as independent works in their own right. Among these is her interpretation of Sappho’s poem fragments, ‘If Not, Winter’ (2002), along with tragedies such as Sophocles’s ‘Electra’ (2001) and ‘Antigone’ (2015) and Euripides’s ‘Bakkhai’ (2015).

In the 1990s, Carson published a series of notable works. Among these is ‘The Glass Essay’ in ‘Glass, Irony, and God’ (1995), which demonstrates the potential of the long poem where genre boundaries are seen to blur.

The same decade saw the publication of another work, often heralded as Carson’s greatest, entitled ‘Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse’ (1998). This demonstrates her eminent ability to actualise the classical literary tradition. With a precise feel for contemporary idioms and experiences, she takes as her starting point poem fragments by the sixth century BC Greek poet Stesichoros concerning the winged red monster Geryon.

Throughout her entire authorship, Carson with a light touch explores the possibilities of writing, a process by which the literary sketch has become of particular value to her. Bearing witness to this is ‘Float’ (2016), a work consisting of twenty-two chapbooks on different subjects, capable of being read in any order. Another is ‘Wrong Norma’ from 2024, a diverse combination of texts with a strongly performative aspect in which Carson crosses over into various artistic and academic fields. Her collaborations with visual artists and choreographers and with opera and theatre directors demonstrate the freedom with which she relates to literary expectations and rule systems. It is this that lies behind the outstanding importance her work since the 1990s has had for the international art and literature scene.

Anders Olsson
Chair of the Nobel Committee

Learn more about the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature: https://bit.ly/4hnkhNO

https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-news/previously-unknown-15th-century-text-gutenberg-associates-discovered

Previously Unknown 15th Century Text by Gutenberg Associates Discovered A page of printed text hidden for more than a century in an uncatalogued scrapbook at Trinity College's Watkinson Library in Hartford, Connecticut, has been identified as a previously unrecorded 15th century printing connected to the circle of Johannes Gutenberg.

https://theconversation.com/lessons-for-the-21st-century-from-a-200-year-old-book-by-frankenstein-author-mary-shelley-291926

Lessons for the 21st century from a 200-year-old book by ‘Frankenstein’ author Mary Shelley The catastrophic story is familiar, but the insight, and the ending, offer an opportunity, and perhaps motivation, for modern readers.

https://www.oxfam.org.uk/media/press-releases/rare-first-edition-of-to-kill-a-mockingbird-found-at-oxfam/

Oxfam GB | Rare first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird found at Oxfam A rare first US edition of To Kill a Mockingbird has been discovered amongst a donation to Oxfam, which was later acquired by the British Library.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-bites-catherine-of-bologna-2802371?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dnl-am&utm_term=dnl-am_20260922

Who Was St. Catherine of Bologna, the Patron Saint of Artists? | Artnet News Who should artists be looking to for guidance? The best bet may be Catherine of Bologna, a 15th century nun who was a dab hand with a brush.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/tarot-renaissance-symbols-morgan-library-and-museum-2796287

Inside the Italian Renaissance Courts Where Tarot Was Born The Morgan Library and Museum reunites the surviving cards of the famed Visconti-Sforza deck for the first time in North America.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/2026-ggarts-winners-revealed-842985839.html

2026 GGArts Winners Revealed /CNW/ -- Today, the Canada Council for the Arts celebrates the 2026 winners of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts (GGArts). Eight artists...